Colors and Culture

   I middle school I read this book about a girl from a wealthier family in India. She lived in a beautiful home with two parents. Her mother took her to the country club everyday to play bridge, but the solidarity of this life had she seeking adventure.
   One day she was walking through the part of the city that was more run down and what we would consider "ghetto". The book is set back in the 60's or 70's, right before/after India had gained independence from British rule. For a girl her age to be wandering around that area was incredibly unorthodox. She was supposed to be finding a husband and starting a family, like her best friend had done. In India the parents arrange a marriage for their children, usually when they're young, and the more kids you have the more the family is considered "well-off", especially if they have many sons.
   Anyways, she was wandering around and she comes across these beggars. They were children with physical handicaps in scraps of fabric, dirty and bone thin, begging for coins on the street.
   The man who "owns" them was the worst person in town. He was known for buying babies who families didn't want them or couldn't keep them, and while their muscles and bone are still soft, he would twist their legs so they wouldn't be able to walk and forcing them to beg on the streets for him.
They have to get a certain amount of money each day and if they wouldn't make that amount he would starve/beat them.
   Well she had heard that he had just bought a new baby. She rushed home and the next day came back to buy the baby from him. He scoffed in her face, but still handed the baby boy over to her in exchange for two coins.
   When she came home with him, her parents were appalled. How was an unwed fifteen year old with another person's baby, a beggar child nonetheless, be expected to be worth anything? What kind of man would want to marry that?
   In India, the wifes are not always seen as people, especially when they're on arranged marriages as practically children.
   This is one of the first books that really captured my attention with culture differences. It allowed me to open my eyes past just American living standards and understand and empathize to those in other countries that are not as well off as we are.
   The way the main character describes India made me fall in love with it. While it has its faults, there are many beautiful sides to the country and culture. It began my interest and desire to explore and learn about other countries, especially beyond just in books. I'm hoping to experience what she described in real life over and over again with each new place.
 

While the details of this book may be a little shaky (it's been a few years since I've read it), this book was definitely one of the most influential ones I've read growing up.